System and method for graphically building weighted search queries

ABSTRACT

A system and method allow a user to define a search request by selecting and weighting graphical icons provided on a search creation interface. The graphical icons may be selected by using an icon selection feature provided on the search creation interface. The graphical icons may further be assigned relative search weights using an icon weighting feature provided on the search creation interface. The system and method generate search results based on metadata associated with the selected ones of the graphical icons and the search weights assigned to each of the selected ones of the graphical icons. The search results may comprise a ranked list of items, such as products listed for sale on an e-commerce server.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/926,153, filed Jun. 25, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. ______, which ishereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, including butnot limited to those portions that specifically appear hereinafter, theincorporation by reference being made with the following exception: inthe event that any portions of the above-referenced application isinconsistent with this application, this application supercedes saidabove-referenced application.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND

1. The Field of the Present Disclosure

The present disclosure relates generally to communication networks, andmore particularly, but not necessarily entirely, to systems, programs,and methods for building search queries using graphical components.

2. Description of Related Art

A “search engine” is a software tool running on a computer that allowsusers to search for selected electronic content. In the simplest terms,a search engine assists users in locating selected information. Forexample, popular search engines, such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, andothers, allow users to search for desired websites on the Internet.Websites may also provide their own internal search engines that allowusers to search content internal to the websites. For example, ane-commerce website may provide an internal search engine that allowsusers to search for desired products offered for sale on the e-commercewebsite.

A search engine typically provides a “front end” user interface on auser computer that allows the user to define a search query. Forexample, the user interface may be generated on a webpage rendered by aweb browser running on the user computer. By far the most popular userinterface is that of a text box, or field, that allows users to manuallyenter keywords. The search engine then utilizes algorithmic functionsand criteria to find keyword matches in the information stored in thedatabases to determine a set of search results. The search engine thensorts through the results of the search and provides a prioritized, orranked, listing of search results to the user. The various searchengines differ in their methods used for determining priority orranking. In the case of an e-commerce website, the listing of searchresults may be ranked or prioritized based on purchase information, thatis, best selling products may be ranked highest in the search results.Alternatively, the listing of search results may be ranked based on apredicted interest of the user. The products in the search results maybe ranked by other key metrics, including click count, purchase count,pricing margins, etc.

Although the use of the text box, or field, in conjunction with atraditional search interface is time tested, improvements are stillbeing sought. For example, traditional text-based searching does noteasily allow a user to search amorphous concepts. Further, traditionaltext-based searching does not easily allow a user to combine separate,amorphous concepts into a single search result. In addition, traditionaltext-based searching does not allow users to place increased emphasis orweight on individual elements used to form the search terms.

Further, while graphical search tools exists, such as Google's ImageSearch, these search tools return images similar to a searched imagerather than using an abstract concept represented by the image.

The prior art is thus characterized by several disadvantages that areaddressed by the present disclosure. The present disclosure minimizes,and in some aspects eliminates, the above-mentioned failures, and otherproblems, by utilizing the methods and structural features describedherein.

The features and advantages of the present disclosure will be set forthin the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by the practice of the present disclosurewithout undue experimentation. The features and advantages of thepresent disclosure may be realized and obtained by means of theinstruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent froma consideration of the subsequent detailed description presented inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system according to an illustrative embodimentof the present disclosure;

FIG. 2A is a schematic representation of an exemplary search creationinterface generated on a display of a user device according to anillustrative embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2B is a schematic representation that depicts weighting selectedgraphical icons by adjusting their relative display sizes;

FIG. 3 depicts a flow diagram of a process according to an illustrativeembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 4-7 depict Example 1 according to an illustrative embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles inaccordance with the disclosure, reference will now be made to theembodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will beused to describe them. It will nevertheless be understood that nolimitation of the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended. Anyalterations and further modifications of the inventive featuresillustrated herein, and any additional applications of the principles ofthe disclosure as illustrated herein, which would normally occur to oneskilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure,are to be considered within the scope of the disclosure claimed.

It must be noted that, as used in this specification and the appendedclaims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referentsunless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In describing andclaiming the present disclosure, the following terminology will be usedin accordance with the definitions set out below. As used herein, theterms “comprising,” “including,” “containing,” “having,” “characterizedby,” and grammatical equivalents thereof are inclusive or open-endedterms that do not exclude additional, unrecited elements or methodsteps.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is depicted a system 20 for providing auser with a search creation interface that allows a user to define asearch request using graphical icons. According to examples ofembodiments of the present invention, the system 20 can be positioned toprovide a search creation interface. The search creation interface mayprovide a set of user selectable graphical icons and an icon weightingtool. The system 20 may allow a user to define a search request byselecting one or more of the graphical icons and weighting each of theicons. The system 20 displays a ranked list of search items based on theselected ones of the graphical icons and the weighting preferencesindicated by the user.

The system 20 may further include a search server 21 that includes aprocessor 22 and memory 23. One or more second computers, e.g., usercomputers 27, are positioned remotely from and in communication with thesearch server 21 through an electronic communication network 30, such asthe Internet or other internetwork. It will be appreciated that otherintervening servers, may be interposed between the search server 21 andthe user computers 27.

The system 20 can also include a search engine program 24 stored on atangible computer medium, such as, for example, one or more varioustypes of memory, such as, for example, memory 23 of the server 21. Theprogram 24 may contain instructions, that when executed by the processor22, cause the server 21 to generate a search creation interface ondisplays of the user computers 27.

The system 20 can also include a plurality of database servers (notshown) that warehouse data regarding e-commerce conducted through thesystem 20. For example, the database servers may manage one or moredatabases stored on electronic storage media. The databases may containvarious data useful to the system 20, including graphical icons,metadata, and items. It will be appreciated that the items can includeany items that can be returned in a ranked search result, including, butnot limited to, product listings and products.

As understood by those skilled in the art, the memory 23 of the server21 can include volatile and nonvolatile memory known to those skilled inthe art including, for example, RAM, ROM, and magnetic or optical disks,just to name a few. It should also be understood by those skilled in theart that, although illustrated as a single server, the illustratedconfiguration of the server 21 is given by way of example and that othertypes of servers or computers configured according to various othermethodologies known to those skilled in the art can be used. The server21 shown schematically in FIG. 1 represents a server or server clusteror server farm and is not limited to any individual physical server. Theserver 21 may be part of a server cluster that provides an e-commercewebsite accessible from user computers 27. The server site may bedeployed as a server farm or server cluster managed by a server-hostingprovider. The number of servers and their architecture and configurationmay be increased based on usage, demand and capacity requirements forthe system 20.

Similarly, the database servers (not shown) each represent a server orserver cluster or server farm and are not limited to any individualphysical server or configuration. As also understood by those skilled inthe art, user computers 27 in these embodiments can be a devices,laptop, desktop, personal digital assistants or PDAs, cell phones,servers, computers, smart phones, internet enabled devices, or othertypes of computers and electronic devices.

As known and understood by those skilled in the art, the network 30 caninclude an internet or world wide web of a plurality ofcomputers/servers in communication with one or more other computersthrough a communication network, and/or portions of a local or otherarea network.

As further understood by those skilled in the art, the program can be inthe form of microcode, programs, routines, and symbolic languages thatprovide a specific set for sets of ordered operations that control thefunctioning of the hardware, e.g., processor, and direct its operation,as known and understood by those skilled in the art. The program 24,according to an embodiment of the present invention, also need notreside in its entirety in volatile memory, but can be selectivelyloaded, as necessary, according to various methodologies as known andunderstood by those skilled in the art. As further understood by thoseskilled in the art, the term “computer-readable medium” encompassesdistribution media, intermediate storage media, execution memory of acomputer, and any other medium or device capable of storing the program24 implementing the functionality or processes of various embodiments ofthe present invention for later reading by a computer.

The program 24 can be copied from the computer-readable medium to a harddisk or a similar intermediate storage medium. When the program 24, orportions thereof, are to be run, it can be loaded either from theirdistribution medium or their intermediate storage medium into theexecution memory of the computer, configuring the computer to act inaccordance with the functionality or method of various embodiments thisinvention. All such operations are well known to those skilled in theart of computer systems.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, theprogram 24 can include a set of instructions that, when executed by theprocessor 22, cause the server 21 or processor 22, to perform theoperations of: (i) generate a search creation interface on a display ofa user electronic device, the search creation interface providing a setof graphical icons, an icon selection tool, and an icon weighting tool,(ii) process user input acquired through user interaction with the iconselection tool to define selected ones of the graphical icons from theset of graphical icons, (iii) process user input acquired through userinteraction with the icon weighting tool to define a search weightingpreference for each of the selected ones of the graphical icons, (iii)process the selected ones of the graphical icons to generate a rankeditem list for each of the selected ones of the graphical icons, (iv)process the search weighting preferences and the ranked item lists forthe selected ones of the graphical icons to generate a weighted rankeditem list for each of the selected ones of the graphical icons, (v)process the weighted ranked item lists for the selected ones of thegraphical icons to form a combined ranked item list, and (vi) displaythe combined ranked item list on the display of the user electronicdevice.

Referring now to FIG. 2A, there is depicted an exemplary search creationinterface 100 according to an illustrative embodiment of the presentdisclosure. In an illustrative embodiment, the search creation interface100 may be generated by the server 21 on a display of the user devices27. For example, the user devices 27 may request the search creationinterface 100 from the server 21. The search creation interface 100 maybe displayed in web browsers running on the user devices 27. In anembodiment, the search creation interface 100 may be generated by anapplication, or “app,” running on the user devices 27. That is, thesearch creation interface 100 is generated by the processors of the userdevices 27 based on the application running on the user devices 27.

In an illustrative embodiment, the search creation interface 100 maydisplay a set of graphical icons 102 to the user on the user devices 27.In an illustrative embodiment, the graphical icons 102 may be stored asdigital images, or as digital image files. In an illustrativeembodiment, the graphical icons 102 are stored as one of PNG, JPEG, andGIF file formats. The icons 102 may comprise user perceivable imageswhich symbolically represent a conceptually related set of items. Forexample, each of the set of graphical icons 102 may convey a differentconcept or idea to the user. The graphical icons 102 may comprise orrepresent any item, object, or concept to a user that may be displayedvisually, including themes, scenes, activities, sports, landscapes,characters, avatars, art, images, real estate, products, abstract ideas,movies, furniture, etc.

In an illustrative embodiment, each of the graphical icons 102 may haveassociated therewith unique metadata stored in a database accessible tothe server 21 of the system 20. The metadata may be utilized in searchesdefined by the selected ones of the graphical icons 102. In anembodiment, the metadata may include seed items associated with theicons 102. The seed items may be manually selected by an operator of theserver 21. In an illustrative embodiment, the seed items may beautomatically selected by the server 21. The seed items may be relatedto the archetypes, or concepts, conveyed by the icons 102. In anillustrative embodiment, the seed items may be products, or productlisting information, offered for sale on an e-commerce website. In anillustrative embodiment, the metadata may be keywords associated withthe graphical icons 102. In an illustrative embodiment, the metadata maybe comprise one or more categories of a product taxonomy. It will beappreciated that the seed items may be utilized to generate otherrelated items.

In an illustrative embodiment, the metadata may be used to generate alist of ranked items for each of the selected ones of the graphicalicons 102. It will be appreciated that the list may be generated byconducting a search of an item database accessible to the server 21. Thesearch may be conducted using any suitable search algorithm as is knownto one having ordinary skill. The ranking of the items may be accordingto any suitable ranking algorithm, including user popularity, clickcounts, best sellers, profit margin, user rating, price, features, userbase, inventory, or any other ranking method known to those havingordinary skill. The ranking algorithm may include release date, author,performer, actor, melting point, solubility, country of origin, bondstrength, passenger size, or horsepower. Thus, each item returned in alist may have an associated numerical ranking relative to the otheritems in the list.

The search creation interface 100 may provide an icon selection tool 104that allows users to select ones of the graphical icons 102. The iconselection tool 104 may include a pointer to latch onto an icon 102 onthe display and move it to another location. In an illustrativeembodiment, the icon selection tool 104 may allow a user to click anddrag preferred ones of the graphical icons 102 into a search creationworkspace 106 provided by the search creation interface 100. In thisregard, the search creation workspace 106 may provide a plurality oftiles 108. Using the icon selection tool 104, a user may click onto aselected one of the icons 102 and drag it and drop it onto one of thetiles 108 as shown by the arrow marked with reference numeral 109. Theselected one of the icons 102 will then be displayed in the appropriateone of the tiles 108. In an illustrative embodiment, the icon selectiontool 104 may include a pointing device that allows a user to click checkboxes associated with the graphical icons 102. In an illustrativeembodiment, the icon selection tool 104 may include a double-clickselection feature. That is, a user may select one of the graphical icons102 by double clicking on the selected one. Thus, it will be appreciatedthat the icon selection tool 104 may include any interface feature thatallows users to select preferred ones from the set of graphical icons102.

The search creation interface 100 may further provide an icon weightingtool 110 that allows users to weight the selected ones of the graphicalicons 102. In an illustrative embodiment, the icon weighting tool 100allows a user to adjust the relative display sizes of the selected onesof the graphical icons in the search creation workspace 106. Forexample, the icon weighting tool 110 may allow a user to click and draga slider associated with one of the selected ones of the graphical icons102 to adust its relative size, proportionally, to the other selectedones of the graphical icons 102. In an illustrative embodiment, theproportionality of the sizes of the selected ones of the graphical icons102 may determine the weight accorded to each of the selected ones ofthe graphical icons 102 during a database search. For example, a selectone of the graphical icons 102 having a display size twice as large asanother one of the selected graphical icons 102 may be weighted twice asmuch in a search. Thus, it will be appreciated that the icon weightingtool 110 may allow a user to adjust the relative size ratios of theselected ones of the graphical icons 102. In an illustrative embodiment,when a user adjusts one of the display sizes of the selected ones of thegraphical icons 102, the display sizes of the other ones of the selectedones of the graphical icons 102 may automatically be adjustedproportionally.

In an illustrative embodiment, the icon weighting tool 110 may includeone or more graphical slider bars that allow a user to weight each ofthe selected ones of the graphical icons 102. In an illustrativeembodiment, the icon weighting tool 110 allows a user to fill in, usinga key board, the proportional weights accorded to each of the selectedones of the graphical icons 102. Thus, it will be appreciated that theicon weighting tool 110 includes any feature that allows a user toassign search weights to the selected ones of the graphical icons 102.The search creation interface 100 may further provide a virtual button112 that initiates a search defined by the user through the searchcreation interface 100. In particular, once the user has defined adesired search using the icon selection tool 104 and the icon weightingtool 110 provided by the interface 100, a user may initiate a search byselecting the button 112. It will be appreciated that the virtual button112 is simply one means of triggering the search, and that othertriggers exist to trigger the search that fall within the scope of thepresent disclosure. The server 21 performs the search, and returnsweighted search result items 114 to the user device 27 in a manner as isdescribed below.

Referring now to FIG. 2B, where like reference numerals depict likecomponents, the relative display sizes of selected ones of the graphicalicons 102 may be adjusted relative to each other. In particular, therelative display sizes may be varied by a user using the icon weightingtool 110. In an illustrative embodiment, the icon weighting tool 110 mayallow a user to click and drag the borders of the selected ones of thegraphical icons 102 to adjust their display sizes. The relative displaysizes may determine the weight given to each of the selected ones of thegraphical icons 102 in a search request. For example, a selected one ofthe graphical icons 102 having a display size twice that of another oneof the selected ones of the graphical icons 102 will be given twice theweight in the search results.

In an embodiment, the icon weighting tool 110 may allow a user to listthe selected ones of the graphical icons 102 in a desired order todetermine weight. For example, the selected ones of the graphical icons102 may be arranged by the user in a ranked list, having a firstposition, a second position, etc. The icon in the first position in thelist may be weighted more than the lower ranked items in the list. Thelist may be vertically or horizontally arranged on the search creationinterface 100. For example, the user may drag and drop the selected onesof the graphical icons 102 in the desired order on the interface 100 todefine user weighting preferences. Selected ones of the graphical icons102 may be represented more than once in the list.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is depicted a flow diagram of a process200 implemented by the system 20 for allowing a user to define andconduct a search according to an illustrative embodiment of the presentdisclosure. At step 202, the process 200 generates a search creationinterface on a display of a user electronic device. The search creationinterface may be a webpage displayed by a web browser program running onthe user electronic device. In particular, the user electronic devicemay request the webpage from a website hosted by a server. In anillustrative embodiment, the website may be an e-commerce website. In anillustrative embodiment, the search creation interface may be generatedby an application, or “app,” running on the user electronic device. Theuser electronic device may be one of a laptop, desktop, personal digitalassistants or PDAs, cell phones, servers, computers, smart phones,internet enabled devices, or other types of computers and electronicdevices. The search creation interface may be a graphical user interfaceas known to those having skill in the art.

The search creation interface provides a set of graphical icons, an iconselection tool, and an icon weighting tool. The set of graphical iconsmay be images displayed on the display of the user device. The graphicalicons may be images designed to evoke concepts and archetypes in themind of a user. For example, the icons may each represent a differenttheme. The icon selection tool provides a tool for a user to selectpreferred ones of the set of graphical icons. The icon weighting toolprovides a tool for a user to individually weight the selected ones ofthe graphical icons in a search request. For example, a user may weightthe selected ones of the graphical icons by adjusting their relativedisplay sizes. In this case, graphical icons with a larger display sizeare given more weight in a search than smaller display sizes.

At step 204, the process 200 processes user input acquired through userinteraction with the icon selection tool to define selected ones of thegraphical icons from the set of graphical icons. For example, a user maydrag and drop selected ones of the graphical icons into a virtualworkspace on the search creation interface. At step 206, the process 200processes user input acquired through user interaction with the iconweighting tool to define a search weighting preference for each of theselected ones of the graphical icons. For example, a user may adust arelative display size of each the selected ones of the graphical iconsto define a search weighting of each of the selected ones of thegraphical icons.

At step 208, the process 200 processes the selected ones of thegraphical icons to generate a ranked item list for each of the selectedones of the graphical icons. In performing step 208, the process 200 mayuse metadata previously associated with each of the graphical icons. Themetadata may be stored in a database residing on an electronic storagemedium. The metadata may include seed products associated with thegraphical icons. For example, if a graphical icon conveyed the conceptof camping, the seed products may include a tent, a camping stove, and asleeping bag. The seed products may be manually chosen or automaticallyselected by the process 200. The seed products are actual productsoffered for sale on an e-commerce website. Often times, the seedproducts are the lowest nodes in a product taxonomy. The metadata mayalso include keywords or search terms. For example, if a graphical iconconveyed the concept of camping, the keywords or search terms mayinclude “tent,” “camping stove,” and “sleeping bag.” The metadata mayalso include categories of a product taxonomy. For example, if agraphical icon conveyed the concept of camping, the categories of thetaxonomy may be “tents,” “camping stoves,” and “sleeping bags.” By wayof another example, if a graphical icon or symbol conveyed the conceptof “Action Movies,” the keywords or search terms used as seeds couldinclude “car chase,” “George Lucas,” “John Wayne,” “academy award” and“explosion.” Such terms can be provided by an operator of the system orbe automatically discovered by systems external to those described inthis claim.

Using the metadata, the process 200 returns a ranked list of items foreach of the selected ones of the graphical icons. If the metadata areseed products, the ranked list of products may include products that arerelevant to the seed products. (The ranked list of products may includethe seed products.) The relevancy of other products to the seed productsmay be determined in wide variety of manners, including by “People whobought X also bought Y” or “People who looked for A also looked for B.”The ranking of the list may be statistically determined based on keymetrics, including click count, purchase count, pricing margins, etc. Itwill be appreciated that a ranked list for a single graphical icon maybe derived using multiple seeds. It will further be appreciated that theeach of the seed products may be weighted and the relevant products foreach of the seed products may be combined into a single final rankedlist for each graphical icon. If the metadata comprise keywords, theprocess 200 may conduct a search of a database using the keywords toreturn a ranked list of items for each of the selected ones of thegraphical icons. If the metadata comprise categories of a producttaxonomy, the process 200 may conduct a search of a database using thecategories to return a ranked list of items for each of the selectedones of the graphical icons.

At step 210, the process 200 processes the search weighting preferencesand the ranked item lists for the selected ones of the graphical iconsto generate a weighted ranked item list for each of the selected ones ofthe graphical icons. In particular, the process 200 applies the searchweighting preferences defined by the user through the search creationinterface to their respective ranked item lists. This weighting step mayre-rank the list. At step 212, the process 200 processes the weightedranked item lists for the selected ones of the graphical icons togenerate a combined ranked item list. Items appearing in multiple rankeditem lists may receive an additional boost in their rankings.

At step 214, the process 200 displays the combined ranked item list onthe display of the user electronic device. The user may select any ofthe ones of the items in the combined ranked item list. For example,after selecting one of the items, the user may be taken to a virtualcheck-out page where the user may purchase the selected one of the itemsfrom the combined ranked item list.

EXAMPLE 1

Referring now to FIGS. 4-7, there is depicted an example of a processfor allowing a user to define a weighted search request using graphicalicons. It will be appreciated that the process may be performed by thesystem 20 shown in FIG. 1. For example, the processor 22 of the server21 may perform the steps of the process shown in FIGS. 4-7.

As shown in the diagram 300 of FIG. 4, at step 302, the process utilizesseed products for generating a ranked list of products for a graphicalicon. It will be appreciated that the seed products may be selectedautomatically or manually. Typically, the seed products should have somerelationship to the concept or theme of a graphical icon. At step 304,the process uses the seed products to generate additional products. Forexample, the additional products may be determined based on relevancy tothe seed products as described above. At step 306, the process providesgroups of the additional products with rankings. The rankings may bebased on a wide range of factors, including click counts, sales, userpopularity, etc.

At step 308, the process combines the groups of additional productsaccording to pre-defined weighting criteria to form a ranked productlist as shown at step 310. (The weight criteria are different than theweights defined by the user using the icon weighting tool.) Thepre-defined weighting criteria may allow an operator, not the user, toassign different weights to the seed products. The ranked product listmay be sorted and ordered according to weighted product rankings asshown at step 310. The ranked product list shown at step 310 may bepre-defined or may be dynamically generated.

Referring now to FIG. 5, there is depicted a group of exemplarygraphical icons 400 that may be utilized by the process. The icons 400may be displayed on a search creation interface generated on a displayof a user device. As can be observed, the graphical icons 400 may conveya wide range of concepts and themes to a user. Using an icon selectiontool provided by the search creation interface, the process allows auser to select preferred ones of the graphical icons 400 to define asearch request. For example, the icon selection tool may allow a user todrag and drop selected ones of the graphical icons 400 into a searchcreation workspace provided on the display of the user device.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there are depicted three exemplary selectedones 400A, 400B, and 400C of the graphical icons 400 shown in FIG. 5 asthey might be displayed by the process on the display of the userdevice. Using an icon weighting tool provided by the search creationinterface, the process allows a user to adjust the relative displaysizes of the selected ones 400A, 400B, and 400C of the graphical icons400 to have the display ratios of 45%, 35%, and 20%, respectively. Forexample, the user may click and drag a target on the border of theselected ones 400A, 400B, and 400C of the graphical icons 400 to adjusttheir relative display sizes. The relative display sizes of the selectedones 400A, 400B, and 400C of the graphical icons 400 assign theirweights in a search request.

Referring now to FIG. 7, there is depicted a diagram of the process forgenerating search results. In particular, once a user has selected andweighted the preferred ones of the graphical icons 400, namely, icons400A, 400B, and 400C, the user initiates a search. For each of the icons400A, 400B, and 400C, the process returns a ranked product listdetermined by the process shown in FIG. 4. The ranked product lists maybe pre-generated or may be generated at the time of the user definedsearch.

The ranked product lists of each of the icons 400A, 400B, and 400C maythen be weighted by the process according the weighting preferencesestablished by the user as shown in FIG. 6. The weighted ranked productlists of each of the icons 400A, 400B, and 400C may then be combined andre-ordered to define a combined ranked item list. The process may thendisplay the combined ranked item list as the search results on a displayof the user device. A user may then select for purchase one of the itemsin the search results. This is the end of Example 1.

In the drawings and specification, there has been disclosed a typicalembodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed,the terms are used in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation. The invention has been described in considerable detail withspecific reference to these illustrated embodiments. It will beapparent, however, that various modifications and changes can be madewithin the spirit and scope of the invention as described in theforegoing specification.

In the foregoing Detailed Description, various features of the presentdisclosure are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purposeof streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to beinterpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed disclosurerequires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather,as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than allfeatures of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the followingclaims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description of theDisclosure by this reference, with each claim standing on its own as aseparate embodiment of the present disclosure.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are onlyillustrative of the application of the principles of the presentdisclosure. Numerous modifications and alternative arrangements may bedevised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spiritand scope of the present disclosure and the appended claims are intendedto cover such modifications and arrangements. Thus, while the presentdisclosure has been shown in the drawings and described above withparticularity and detail, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art that numerous modifications, including, but not limited to,variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner ofoperation, assembly, and use may be made without departing from theprinciples and concepts set forth herein.

1. A method of performing an electronic search of a database and generating a combined ranked item list, the method comprising: associating metadata with each of a set of graphical icons in a database; processing user input to define at least two selected ones of the graphical icons from the set of graphical icons; processing user input to define a search weighting preference for each of the at least two selected ones of the graphical icons; processing the at least two selected ones of the graphical icons to generate a ranked item list for each of the at least two selected ones of the graphical icons based on the metadata, wherein the ranked item lists each comprise: items having an associated numerical ranking relative to other items in the ranked item list, wherein the metadata include seed products associated with corresponding graphical icons, and wherein the seed products are weighted, using keywords, and combined into a single ranked list for each corresponding graphical icon, wherein the single ranked list is also used to generate the ranked item list; processing the search weighting preferences and the ranked item lists for the at least two selected ones of the graphical icons to generate a weighted ranked item list for each of the at least two selected ones of the graphical icons, the weighted ranked item lists being generated by applying each of the search weighting preferences to the numerical rankings of the items in its associated ranked item list; and generating a combined ranked item list by processing the weighted ranked item lists for the at least two selected ones of the graphical icons and grouping the items from each of the weighted rank item lists into the combined ranked item list.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a search creation interface on a display of a user electronic device, the search creation interface providing the set of graphical icons, an icon selection tool, and an icon weighting tool.
 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising processing user input acquired through user interaction with the icon selection tool to define at least two selected ones of the graphical icons from the set of graphical icons.
 4. The method of claim 2 further comprising processing user input acquired through user interaction with the icon weighting tool to define a search weighting preference for each of the at least two selected ones of the graphical icons.
 5. The method of claim 2 further comprising displaying the combined ranked item list on the display of the user.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the seed products are actual products offered for sale on the database.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the metadata include at least one of click count, purchase count, and pricing margins.
 8. The method of claim 2 wherein the icon selection tool provides a drag and drop feature such that the user interaction with the icon selection tool comprises a user dragging and dropping selected ones of the graphical icons into a search creation workspace provided by the search creation interface.
 9. The method of claim 2 wherein the user interaction with the search weighting tool defines a user preference ratio of the selected ones of the graphical icons with respect to each other, and wherein the method further comprises defining the search weighting preferences based on the user preference ratio of the selected ones of the graphical icons with respect to each other.
 10. The method of claim 2 wherein the user interaction with the search weighting tool adjusts proportional display sizes of the selected ones of the graphical icons, and wherein the method further comprises defining the search weighting preferences based on the proportional display sizes of the selected ones of the graphical icons.
 11. The method of claim 2 wherein the search weighting tool provides a click and drag feature such that the user interaction with the search weighting tool comprises a user clicking and dragging a virtual slider to adjust user preference ratios of the selected ones of the graphical icons with respect to each other, and wherein the method further comprises defining the search weighting preferences based on the user preference ratios of the selected ones of the graphical icons.
 12. The method of claim 2 wherein the search weighting tool provides a click and drag feature such that the user interaction with the search weighting tool comprises a user clicking and dragging virtual sliders to adjust relative display sizes of the selected ones of the graphical icons, and wherein the method further comprises defining the search weighting preferences based on the relative display sizes of the selected ones of the graphical icons.
 13. The method of claim 1 wherein the items are products offered for sale on an e-commerce website.
 14. The method of claim 1 wherein the graphical icons comprise avatars.
 15. The method of claim 1 wherein the metadata comprise keywords.
 16. The method of claim 1 wherein the metadata comprise categories of a product taxonomy.
 17. A system for performing an electronic search of a database, the system comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor; wherein the memory has a set of computer readable instructions stored therein, that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: (i) process user input to define at least two selected ones of the graphical icons from the set of graphical icons; (ii) process user input to define a search weighting preference for each of the selected ones of the graphical icons; (iii) process the selected ones of the graphical icons to generate a ranked item list for each of the selected ones of the graphical icons based on metadata, wherein the ranked item lists each comprise: items having an associated numerical ranking relative to other items in the ranked item list, wherein the metadata include seed products associated with corresponding graphical icons; (iv) process the search weighting preferences and the ranked item lists for the selected ones of the graphical icons to generate a weighted ranked item list for each of the selected ones of the graphical icons, the weighted ranked item lists being generated by applying each of the search weighting preferences to the numerical rankings of the items in its associated ranked item list, and wherein the seed products are weighted, using the keywords and combined into a single ranked list for each corresponding graphical icon, wherein the single ranked list is also used to generate the ranked item list; (v) generate a combined ranked item list by processing the weighted ranked item lists for the selected ones of the graphical icons and grouping the items from each of the weighted rank item lists into the combined ranked item list.
 18. The system of claim 17 wherein the processor also generates a search creation interface on a display of a user electronic device, the search creation interface providing the set of graphical icons, an icon selection tool, and an icon weighting tool.
 19. The system of claim 18 wherein the processor also processes user input acquired through user interaction with the icon selection tool to define at least two selected ones of the graphical icons from the set of graphical icons.
 20. The system of claim 18 wherein the processor also processes user input acquired through user interaction with the icon weighting tool to define a search weighting preference for each of the at least two selected ones of the graphical icons.
 21. The system of claim 18 wherein the processor also displays the combined ranked item list on the display of the user.
 22. The system of claim 17 wherein the seed products are actual products offered for sale on the database.
 23. The system of claim 17 wherein the metadata include at least one of click count, purchase count, and pricing margins.
 24. The system of claim 18 wherein the wherein the icon selection tool provides a drag and drop feature such that the user interaction with the icon selection tool comprises a user dragging and dropping selected ones of the graphical icons into a search creation workspace provided by the search creation interface.
 25. The system of claim 18 wherein the user interaction with the search weighting tool defines a user preference ratio of the selected ones of the graphical icons with respect to each other, and wherein the set of computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to define the search weighting preferences based on the user preference ratio of the selected ones of the graphical icons with respect to each other.
 26. The system of claim 18 wherein the user interaction with the search weighting tool adjusts proportional display sizes of the selected ones of the graphical icons, and wherein the set of computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to define the search weighting preferences based on the proportional display sizes of the selected ones of the graphical icons.
 27. The system of claim 18 wherein the search weighting tool provides a click and drag feature such that the user interaction with the search weighting tool comprises a user clicking and dragging a virtual slider to adjust user preference ratios of the selected ones of the graphical icons with respect to each other, and wherein the set of computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to define the search weighting preferences based on the user preference ratios the selected ones of the graphical icons.
 28. The system of claim 18 wherein the search weighting tool provides a click and drag feature such that the user interaction with the search weighting tool comprises a user clicking and dragging virtual sliders to adjust relative display sizes of the selected ones of the graphical icons, and wherein the set of computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to define the search weighting preferences based on the relative display sizes of the selected ones of the graphical icons.
 29. The system of claim 17 wherein the items are products offered for sale on an e-commerce website.
 30. The system of claim 17 wherein the graphical icons comprise avatars.
 31. The system of claim 17 wherein the metadata comprise keywords.
 32. The system of claim 17 wherein the metadata comprise categories of a product taxonomy.
 33. The system of claim 17 wherein the graphical icons are images.
 34. The system of claim 17 wherein the graphical icons represent archetypes. 